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Scottish Football: Betfred Cup First Round Opening Matches Review

As the revamped Scottish League Cup kick starts the new football season north of the border, see how the 40 teams in action fared in their opening first round games.

Trophy: Ross County are the current holders of the League Cup, which begins its 71st year (Picture from BBC Scotland)

THE Scottish football season has an earlier start than usual as the new League Cup format is rolled out across the country.

Complete with a group phase, penalty shootouts after draws and a November final at Hampden, it hopes to bring more excitement to fans and a competition which has been won by six different teams in the last six years.

Celtic, Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibernian – with European exploits currently on their minds – will join in the second round.

But after the briefest of pre-seasons, it was back to business for 40 other clubs (in eight groups, each consisting of five teams) as they took to the field over the weekend hoping to get points on the board early on.

Here’s how they got on in the first round of matches…

FRIDAY, JULY 15:

New journey: United will play in the Scottish Championship this season after relegation from the top-flight, where they spent 18 years (Picture from Sky Sports)

But United’s debutant keeper Cammy Bell tipped Liam Callaghan’s effort onto the post and Scott Fraser won it for the Tangerines after successful spotkicks from United’s Harry Souttar and Arbroath’s Hamilton.

McKinnon’s men now have two points in Group C, with Arbroath having to settle for one.

Up and running: Raith earned three points in Group D as former Hearts and Kilmarnock boss Gary Locke won his first match in charge of the Stark’s Park club

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